Best Place to Play Pool

Hard Times Lounge

The best pool games are played in one of two types of venues: the large, spacious pool halls where the action's spread across the floor and the dim, smoky dives, where a lone pool table is squeezed into the backroom. Hard Times Lounge belongs to the latter category. It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it establishment squeezed into the streetscape of Olive Boulevard between downtown and Grand Center. But if pool is your game, head on over on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night, when the back room will likely be filled with a dozen or so spectators. During the peak of the night, there'll be a queue of quarters on the pool table to mark each player's place in line, so make sure to put your quarter down quickly before heading back to the bar for a cheap bottle of Bud from the always-friendly bartender.